Nigerian secondary school teachers’ perception towards teacher leadership

Abstract

This qualitative research explores how secondary school teachers in Nigerian public secondary schools perceive teacher leadership. It determines the extent to which teachers participate in leadership activities within and outside schools. Data for this study was elicited through an analysis of documents and semi-structured interview. The participants included three principals, three vice principals, nine teachers and a Tutor General/Permanent Secretary of an Education District in Lagos, Nigeria. This paper highlights the benefits of teacher leadership and the roles teachers play in school improvement. The findings from the study supported the notion provided by theorists that administrators and teachers have vague conceptions about the meaning of teacher leadership. It also showed that the level of collaboration among teachers was low in relation to academic matters and high in matters related to extracurricular and social activities. Some of the barriers militating against teacher leadership that the findings highlighted included: inadequate trust between teachers and administrators, school norms and beliefs, micro- Tola Olujuwon Dept of Education Leadership & Management University of Johannesburg Auckland Park, Kingsway Campus Johannesburg, 2006, South Africa Email: [email protected] Juliet Perumal Dept of Education Leadership & Management University of Johannesburg Auckland Park, Kingsway Campus Johannesburg, 2006, South Africa Email: [email protected] 242 politics and teacher’s attitude towards work. The finding in this research lends credence to studies conducted in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia on teacher leadership which confirmed that if teacher leadership is to thrive in, schools teachers must work collaboratively and their roles and responsibilities must be distributed within the schools